The Los Angeles Dodgers salvaged a two-game series with the Arizona Diamondbacks on Wednesday and snapped a three-game losing streak in the process. Moreover, it was the club’s third win in the last four meetings against their National League West rival.
Solid pitching performances dominated the early portion of the game, as Patrick Corbin and Alex Wood each logged five innings of one-run ball. The Dodgers, however, would score three runs in the sixth inning in a very unorthodox way.
After loading the bases against Diamondbacks reliever Fernando Salas, Kyle Farmer pushed the first run across with a sacrifice fly. The next two runs scored after Chris Taylor was hit by a pitch, followed by a wild pitch that allowed Yasiel Puig to scamper home with two outs in the inning.
All-in-all, the Dodgers failed to record a hit with the bases loaded in seven plate appearances against the Diamondbacks on Wednesday. That led to manager Dave Roberts stating that his club has pressed with runners in scoring position this season, via SportsNet LA:
“I think there’s a little bit of getting too big, trying to do too much. It’ll turn. We’ve got to keep creating opportunities for our guys.”
Entering play on Thursday, the Dodgers find themselves in the middle of the pack in terms of production with runners in scoring positions. As a group, they rank 14th in the league in batting average (.252), on-base plus slugging (.741), and 17th in slugging percentage (.390).
In the two-game series alone against the Diamondbacks, the Dodgers went just 5-for-26 with runners in scoring position.
That’s in contrast to their success in scoring opportunities last year, which additionally allowed the the Dodgers to complete comeback victories more frequently as opposed to this season.
